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MELECHI, ANTONIO: : FUGITIVE MINDS: On Madness,Sleep and Other Twilight Afflictions

LONDON.WILLIAM HEINEMANN,2003.

ISBN 0434010073.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE+/FINE+.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,matt,wrap-around colour pictorial (painting: Charcot a la Saltpetriere by Andre Brouillet.Hospital Neurologique,Lyons.) illustrated dw/dj,with white+orange lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore -edges generally bright and clean - with minimal ageing/toning; contents bright,tight,clean - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,vii-xvipp+3- 348pp [paginated] includes separate contents and illustrations lists/tables,author's introduction,8 sections comprising 51 excerpts, 8pp contemporary b/w photographs and b/w facsimile reproductions of illustrations in 1 block,between pp144/5,acknowledgements,a bibliography and an index.Plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages and an epigram. How did the 'nervous illness' of a German judge help shape the clinical concept os schizophrenia? What was unique about the dreams of the Marquis Hervey de Saint-Denys? Why does a Malayan latah feel compelled to dance,swear and obey the orders of individuals who tease her? And how have the symptoms of migraine,autism, epilepsy and other forms of mental illness insinuated themselves into art and literature? Recent advances in the biological sciences have suggested that we are about to unlock many of the mysteries of mental illness,sleep and trance.In this fascinating and original book, Antonio Melechi argues that this materialist vision of the human mind and behaviour promises more than it can deliver.Drawing on fiction and poetry,memoir and case-history,'Fugitive Minds' traces the shifting phantasrns of possession and paranoia,dream and delusion,love and fear,hunger and solitude. Emphasising the pyschological and historical factors that continue to shape these 'twilight afflictions',it reveals how many illnesses are as much cultural as physical.It explores the demise of afflictions such as nostalgia and the emergence of pseudo-illnesses,from addiction to arctic hysteria.Finally,it looks at the mental states and behavious - religious conversion, hypnosis,automatic writing,lucid dreaming and alien abduction - which remain part of what William James called science's 'unclassified residuum'. Antonio Melechi brings together neurology and psychologym,anthropology and literaure,ranging from Dostoevsky to Charcot and from Freud to William Burroughs.Some of the 'afflictions' melechi discusses are common to us all,like sleep and love,others - such as Capgras' syndrome (the conviction that significant others have been replaced by doubles - are rare and bizarre.But whether familiar or outlandish,the states of mind explored in 'Fugitive Minds' hauntingly reminds us of the power of the human mind to delude both itself and others.This is the author's first book. Please contact seller,because of the value of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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